Organic Persimmon Pie

The persimmons on the ranch are exceptional this time of year and with so many on the trees, I had to find some creative ways to use them up! This is my take on a dutch apple pie, made with sweet Fuyu persimmons.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 cup Ocean Ranch Organic All Purpose Columbine Flour

2 tsp Ocean Ranch Organic Cane Sugar

1/4 tsp sea salt

8 tbsp organic butter, well chilled, diced into small cubes

3-5 tbsp ice water

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup Ocean Ranch Organic Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Ocean Ranch Organic All Purpose Columbine Flour

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp sea salt

6 tbsp organic butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

Persimmon Filling

8 Organic Fuyu persimmons, cored & sliced 1/4 in thick

1 tbsp walnut oil

1 tbsp organic butter, melted

1/2 cup Ocean Ranch Organic Cane Sugar

3 tbsp Ocean Ranch Organic All Purpose Columbine Flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

To make crust: in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter and cut into mixture using a pastry blender until there are just pea size clumps of butter throughout. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and toss until mixture is just moistened and comes together in bigger clumps. Gather mixture into a ball and shape and press into a smooth, 6-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Cover and refrigerate until dough is more firm, about an hour. Remove dough, roll out into a 12 1/2-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Fold in half then into a quarter or wrap around a rolling pin and transfer to a 9 1/2 to 9-inch deep dish pie plate and unwrap. Fit to plate, flute edges if desired. Refrigerate until well chilled about 1 hour (or freeze for 15 minutes).

Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line crust with a sheet of foil or parchment paper (cover to edges), add dry beans, rice, sugar or pie weights to fill just level to the top. Bake pie in preheated oven 15 minutes. Hold all four corners of foil and remove beans. Prick bottom of pie crust about 10 times. Return to oven and continue to bake until it’s starting to dry, about 8 – 12 minutes longer. Remove crust and let cool on a wire rack while you prepare the topping and filling. Move oven rack down one level from center. Reduce oven temperature to 350.

For the crumb topping: Add brown sugar to a medium mixing bowl and break up with fingertips. Add 3/4 cup flour, nutmeg and salt and whisk. Stir vanilla into 6 Tbsp melted butter. Pour into flour mixture and toss until evenly moistened. Transfer to refrigerator while you prepare filling.

For the pie filling: In a large mixing bowl toss sliced persimmons with remaining 2 Tbsp melted butter and lemon juice. Add sugar, 3 Tbsp flour, and cinnamon. Toss mixture to evenly coat.

To assemble pie: Layer a handful or two of persimmon mixture into the pie dish at a time, spreading and pressing into an even layer and turning slices flat (this will help ensure you’ll fit all of them in). Remove crumble from refrigerator, break into small clumps and sprinkle evenly over the top of the pie. Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in preheated oven until persimmons are almost fully tender when poked with a toothpick, about 45 – 55 minutes. Check pie a few times throughout baking to ensure the topping or crust isn’t overly browning, if needed tent with foil. If it’s not browning enough you can move oven rack up one level. Remove pie from oven and let cool on a wire rack (it will take about 2 hours of cooling). Serve just warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.